TENDr Pods (Terrestrial Exploration and Nurture Designed Rovers) are an interactive art project that explore migratory ecology in an era of climate change. The rovers are robotic fostering environments that care for their own garden of native plants by interacting with participants and actively seeking out light and water. The goal of the project is to illustrate the plight of California’s native habitats, to disperse native plants in a new way, to encourage the general public to participate in conservation and to think about what is ‘native.’

Special thanks to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Arts Industry Residency Program for supporting this project. Photos provided by the John Michael Kohler Arts Center.